Sub QB couldn’t sink Mids
With starter Hopkins hobbled, Black Knights go to backup Anderson
PHILADELPHIA — Making a quarterback change the day before an Army-Navy game can be an agonizing decision for a coach. For Army West Point coach Jeff Monken, he really had no choice.
After starting quarterback Kelvin Hopkins Jr. pulled his hamstring against Hawaii on Nov. 30, he didn’t practice until two days before the Army-Navy game. On Friday, Monken informed junior Christian Anderson he’d start under center against Navy.
“[Hopkins] took a lot of mental reps and sat in on the meetings,” Monken said. “But it’s really difficult to be ready if you have one day of practice in for a big game like this. He could run, but he wasn’t going to be able to turn it loose and open up. To give us the best chance to win we thought it was to go with Christian.”
Before Saturday, Anderson had only appeared in five games this year. He came in with 46 carries for 373 yards and three touchdowns.
“Coach told me [Friday] that he was going to start me,” said the Bronx native. “I have been preparing the last two weeks to start. I was getting a lot of reps in practice, so I was pretty well-prepared. I was really excited and honored to be in that game.”
Anderson got off to a good start on Saturday. He directed an 18-play, 78-yard drive that ate up 10 minutes, 41 seconds. The drive, which was the longest in terms of time for Army all season, ended with Anderson’s 5-yard run that gave the Black Knights a 7-0 lead in the final minute of the first quarter.
Because of that drive, Army had a commanding edge in time of possession in the first quarter. It gained 78 yards on the scoring drive, but managed only 70 total yards the rest of the game.
Anderson had a 21-yard rush on the drive and had 48 yards in the first quarter. He finished with just 56 yards on 21 carries and completed 2 of 4 passes for 18 yards.
He is the first Army player to make his first career start in the Army-Navy game since 1979.
“He made some good plays and he made some good decisions, particularly early,” Monken said. “There were some times down the stretch where we were giving him a lot to see and to get us in the right play at the line of scrimmage. That’s a lot to handle in a big game like this, even for a veteran quarterback, but certainly for a guy making the first start of his career. He handled it pretty good for the most part.”
Hopkins played in 11 games this year and rushed for 706 yards on 137 carries and seven touchdowns. He had 208 yards in a win over VMI for his first game over 200 yards in his career and sixth with at least 100. He also completed 32 of 75 passes for 570 yards and four touchdowns.
He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2018 Army-Navy game after rushing for 64 yards and a pair of touchdowns. In 2018, he became the first Army West Point quarterback to rush and throw for 1,000 yards in a single season.
The Black Knights certainly missed Hopkins on Saturday. They recorded five first downs in the first quarter, but finished with just nine. Army was 4 for 6 on third-down conversions in the first quarter, but didn’t pick one up the rest of the game.
“The biggest thing we had trouble with was their nose,” Anderson said. “He was causing a lot of problems with us trying to get the ball outside. We just weren’t running the ball effectively the whole game except for that one drive. It just comes down to the fundamentals. We have to do a better job if we’re trying to win a game like this.”